Patent application title: Method and apparatus for use by a patient in temporarily lifting that person with respect to a horizontal surface--such as a bed

Abstract:

A support for a trapeze or other structure (such as a sling) that depends
from a rail, said rail extending over a bed (usually a hospital bed) or
other patient-support device. A carriage (which might also be called a
trolley) is provided for selective movement--in small increments--along a
conventional rail (having an octagonal or circular cross section) from
one end to the other. Alternatively, the carriage is held static, where
it provides a stable "anchor" for a trapeze, so that a person might
safely pull downward on the trapeze. In one embodiment the static
condition is initiated by the action of simply pulling downward on the
trapeze, causing the carriage to bear against the rail with what may best
be described as a "gripping" action. Switching between free movement
along the rail and braked movement can be automatic, involving only a
downwardly directed force on the carriage, which force may be supplied by
an attending nurse or the patient.

Claims:

1. In an environment that includes an elongated structural rail that is
mounted securely over a bed in which a person is resting in a generally
prone position, and further including a carriage that is adapted for
selective movement to any one of a variety of positions along the rail,
and there being a structural member that depends from the carriage in a
downward direction, comprising the method of:a. establishing a first
condition in which the carriage is freely movable with respect to the
rail in response to a modest manual force on the carriage in a
longitudinal direction;b. establishing a second condition in which the
carriage is held static with respect to the rail, such that the carriage
can function as an anchor to support a person applying a downward force
on the carriage, and the change between the first and the second
conditions being effected by applying a manual force on the carriage;
andc. selecting a preferred location along the structural rail between
two extreme positions on the rail, the first extreme position being at
one end of the rail, and the second extreme position being at the
opposite end of the rail, and the change between the first and second
conditions of the carriage being accomplished at said selected location
along the rail, and said preferred location being incrementally
changeable along the rail in order to foster optimum use and comfort for
the person on the bed.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the carriage is freely movable
with respect to the rail by providing at least one roller between the
carriage and the structural rail, and placing the roller so that its
periphery will be in contact with the structural rail.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the downward force on the
carriage is applied to the structural member that depends from the
carriage.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the structural member that
depends from the carriage is a medical trapeze, and a person resting on
the bed can effect a change from one condition to a second condition by
the act of pulling downwardly on the medical trapeze.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the first condition is one in
which the carriage is normally biased to a freely movable status, and the
change to the second condition is automatic when a manual force is
applied to the carriage.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 and including the further step of
providing a lock that is effective to prevent a change from one condition
to the other condition, and selectively applying the lock to hold the
carriage in a fixed condition.

7. A combination having utility for persons who are restricted by injury
or illness to a generally prone position for many hours, comprising the
combination of:a. bed for supporting a person in a generally prone
position on top of the bed, and said bed having first and second ends and
a longitudinal axis between the two ends;b. a linear rail extending
longitudinally over the bed and extending horizontally from one end of
the bed to the other end, and the rail having the structural integrity to
support the weight of a person;c. a carriage having a frame and means for
fostering smooth longitudinal movement between the frame and the linear
rail, and said movement is capable of being in increments as small as
hundredths of an inch;d. a manually actuated latch carried by the
carriage to control relative movement between the carriage's frame and
the rail in a longitudinal direction, and the latch having a locking
position in which the carriage will not move longitudinally with respect
to the rail, and the latch having a second position in which the carriage
can be freely moved longitudinally along the rail; ande. a supporting
structure suspended below the carriage's frame, and said supporting
structure having the structural integrity to transfer the full weight of
a person to the carriage's frame.

8. The combination as described in claim 7 and further including a locking
device connected to the latch to render the latch inoperable when it is
desired that the carriage be held in a fixed position, whereby a person
in authority can decide whether or not the carriage should be permitted
to have free relative movement with respect to the rail.

9. The combination as claimed in claim 7 and further including a hand grip
that is attached below the frame in order to provide a means for a person
resting on the bed to grasp the hand grip and raise himself or herself
off the bed by pulling downwardly on the hand grip.

10. The combination as claimed in claim 7 wherein the manually actuated
latch is finger-actuated.

11. The combination as claimed in claim 7 wherein the means for fostering
smooth longitudinal movement between the frame and the linear rail
constitutes a low-friction strip of material that is mounted interiorly
of the carriage and in a location where it will bear against the linear
rail.

12. The combination as claimed in claim 7 wherein the means for fostering
smooth longitudinal movement of the carriage along the rail constitutes
at least one roller that is mounted on the carriage.

13. The combination as claimed in claim 7 and further including a brake
pad mounted on the manually actuated latch, and the brake pad being
positioned so that it can be selectively brought to bear against the
rail.

14. The combination as claimed in claim 7 and further including a cable
that has a first end that is connected to the manually actuated latch,
and the cable having a second end that extends well below the carriage,
whereby a person may grab the second end of the cable and apply a
downwardly directed force onto the manually actuated latch.

15. The combination as claimed in claim 14 wherein the second end of the
cable is enveloped with a relatively soft material selected from the
group that includes plastic and rubber, and having a size about the size
of a golf ball.

16. The combination as claimed in claim 7 and further including a holder
that is affixed to the housing of a carriage, and the holder having a
size and shape to receive and hold a handle of a trapeze.

17. The combination as claimed in claim 16 wherein the holder has a
cusp-shape with an upwardly open top

[0002]This invention relates generally to the temporary lifting of a
person with respect to a horizontal surface--such a bed on which the
person may be reclining; more particularly, it relates to an improved
manner of permitting a person to use his or her own strength to rise,
temporarily, from a generally prone position to an alternate position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003]It is common for persons who are seriously ill or have been involved
in a serious accident or the like to be restricted to a hospital bed for
an extended period of time. Eventually, as they begin to recover from the
effects of their illness or accident, they begin to feel restless and
they want to change their position with respect to the supporting bed. In
a typical hospital environment, when sliding over a bed sheet doesn't
provide a satisfying change in position, it is possible to take advantage
of the hardware that is present in many hospitals, namely, a structural
rail that extends longitudinally over a bed, usually a few feet above the
bed. Such a structural arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,872 to
Reed entitled "Orthopedic Traction Frame," in which an octagon-shaped
rail 34 extends from one end of the bed to the other end. Depending from
the rail 34 is a supporting structure commonly called a "trapeze" that is
suspended from the rail at a height so that it can be grasped by a
patient who is reclining on the bed. Pulling downward on the handle
portion of the Reed trapeze 72 allows a patient to lift himself or
herself off the top surface of the bed for a sufficient distance as to
allow a change in relative position between the patient and the bed. (For
convenience, the male gender will be used hereinafter in a generic sense,
to refer to both men and women.)

[0005]One proposal for an improved carriage for a trapeze was offered by
Ronald D. Kay in U.S. Pat. No. 6,163,906 entitled "Load Supporting
Apparatus For A Person", the substance of which is incorporated herein by
reference. The Kay structure has a specially configured rail with a
longitudinal slot on its bottom wall A series of recesses/holes 51 are
provided along the slot, where a plunger can engage a respective one of
the holes to anchor the trapeze at one of a variety of selected spots
along his rail and its attendant slot. Although the Kay specification is
silent about the dimensions of the rail and the holes in the bottom of
the rail, reference to FIGS. 1 and 9 will suggest that the holes are
spaced apart by a distance of about 2 inches. The result is that the
trapeze can be selectively moved longitudinally along the rail to
distinct anchor points that are about 2 inches apart. But if a person on
the bed wanted to move the trapeze a smaller distance, e.g., 1/4 inch, he
would be out of luck. Hence, there has remained a need for an apparatus
that includes a carriage that is incrementally moveable from one end of
the rail to the other end, including potential changes as small as, say,
a few hundredths of an inch. With the apparatus disclosed herein, there
is no need to add a specially configured rail (such as the one shown by
Kay). It is not known whether an incremental movement of such a small
amount produces primarily a mental effect on the patient or a physical
effect, or perhaps a little bit of both, but anything that gives a
patient comfort and lowers the need for extra medication is, of course,
desirable.

[0006]There is also a need for an improved apparatus that would be
compatible with all of the existing thousands of tubular rails (generally
octagonal or cylindrical in cross section) that are presently in
existence in hospitals and nursing homes across the country today.

[0007]A couple of safety considerations need to be kept in mind when
evaluating the relationship between a typical trapeze and the supporting
rail over a bed. First, the trapeze needs to be held in a static
manner--at least during the time when a patient is pulling downward on
the trapeze handle, or else the trapeze might slip or even move a short
distance horizontally along the rail. This could cause the patient to
lose his or her balance during the course of attempting a lifting
maneuver. To avoid this, a rigid clamp of some kind is routinely held
firmly to the rail, and the clamp is not movable except by someone who
has whatever tools may be necessary to loosen a bolt or the like. The
person who "frees" the clamp and allows the trapeze to move
longitudinally along the rail is sometimes a mechanic or other
"technical" person, or it can be an attending nurse with more skill in
patient care than in machinery. Second, the trapeze needs to be readily
adjustable in position along the rail, so that its relative position can
be optimized for each patient who may someday be using the bed. Such
movement along the rail may include movement to one or the other of the
two ends of the rail; or it may include complete removal of the clamp, so
that the trapeze can be moved out of the way of an attending physician,
nurse or other care-giver. In both of these situations, the patient is
usually denied the opportunity to make personal adjustments in the
physical location of the trapeze along the rail. It is an object of this
invention to address both of these situations, and to do so without
introducing any new problem involving patient care and rehabilitation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008]In brief, the invention disclosed herein involves a two-stage
support for a trapeze or other structure (such as a sling) that depends
from a rail, said rail extending over a bed (usually a hospital bed) or
other patient-support device. In the first stage of operation, a carriage
is provided that permits free and unobstructed movement of the carriage
along a conventional rail, from one end to the other. A variety of
constructions for the proposed carriage are disclosed, some of which
include wheels that bear against the top of the rail to provide
low-friction contact with the rail. Other constructions omit wheels but
rely strictly on geometry to foster incremental relative movement between
the carriage and the rail--when it is desired. In the preferred
embodiment of the invention, the carriage is held static in the second
stage of operation, such that it provides a stable "anchor" for a trapeze
and the person who is pulling downward on the trapeze. This second stage
of operation can be initiated by the action of pulling downward on the
trapeze, causing the carriage to bear against the rail with what may best
be described as a "gripping" action. The switching between free movement
along the rail and braked movement can be automatic, and involves only a
downwardly directed force on the carriage, which force may be supplied by
an attending nurse--or the patient who is to be the beneficiary of any
vertical movement with respect to the horizontal bed. By allowing the
patient to control the location and use of the trapeze, there will be
less likelihood of imposing an extra burden on a busy nurse or other
care-giver. That is, a restless patient who never seems to be satisfied
and/or comfortable, and who is always wanting to accomplish a change in
body position, can perhaps accomplish those desired changes without
demanding help from anyone else. And anything that helps develop a
positive mental attitude on the part of a patient is considered to be
beneficial.

[0009]In its most elemental terms, the invention may be described as
having utility in an environment that includes a structural rail that is
mounted securely over a bed in which a person may be resting in a
generally prone position. Additionally, there is present a carriage
(which might also be called a trolley) that is adapted for selective
movement to any one of a variety of positions along the elongated rail.
There is also a structural member that hangs downwardly from the carriage
toward the bed. A condition is first established in which the carriage is
freely movable along the rail in response to a modest manual force on the
carriage in a longitudinal direction. By the expression "modest manual
force" it is meant the force that can routinely be applied by a person's
finger or maybe a couple of fingers. A second condition is then
established in which the carriage is held static with respect to the
rail. The carriage will then function as an anchor to support a person
who is pulling downwardly on the structural member. The change between
the first and the second condition is effected by a downward force that
is generally perpendicular to the rail. This downward force can be
supplied by, for example, a patient who is lying on a bed below the rail
and pulls downwardly on the trapeze. Alternatively, a cable may be
attached at its upper end to the carriage and used to selectively release
a brake that is mounted on the carriage, said brake being normally
applied to the rail to hold the carriage static.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWING

[0010]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical hospital bed with a
structural rail positioned above the bed;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same kind of bed and structural
rail with which this invention has utility, and showing a trapeze hanging
below the rail;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a new
carriage that is compatible with a structural rail that is mounted over a
bed;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a rotatable arm that can be mounted
on the carriage of FIG. 3 and used to apply a braking force on the
adjacent rail;

[0014]FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the carriage of FIG. 3, said view
being partially sectioned as indicated by the cutting planes V-V in FIG.
6, and showing the rotatable arm of FIG. 4 installed on the carriage;

[0015]FIG. 6 is an elevation view of one end of the carriage, looking
along the longitudinal axis of the structural rail;

[0016]FIG. 7 is a front elevation view of a trapeze of the type shown in
FIG. 2, also sometimes called a medical trapeze--to distinguish it from
the kind of trapeze that is used by acrobats in a circus;

[0017]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a sling that could be used to
support a patient's broken member (e.g., a leg) while it is healing, said
sling depending from a carriage;

[0018]FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a
carriage, said embodiment omitting wheels but still being movable along
the structural rail in response to the application of a modest force in a
longitudinal direction;

[0019]FIG. 10 is a front elevation view of the carriage shown in FIG. 9,
with the bottom of the housing being closed and held around the
structural rail by a locking pin;

[0020]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the carriage shown in FIG. 9, with
the locking pin being removed and the bottom rotated downward--such that
the carriage could be easily connected to a structural rail by slipping
it over a side of the rail;

[0021]FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a variation of the carriage of FIG.
3 in which a cable hangs below the carriage for a distance such that its
lower end might be grasped by a patient who wants to apply or release the
brake;

[0022]FIG. 13 is a side elevation view of the embodiment of FIG. 12,
partially cross-sectioned, showing the connection of a depending cable to
the brake-release arm;

[0023]FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the
carriage, and showing an external lock that can be engaged to hold the
latch in one position or the other;

[0024]FIG. 15 is a side elevation view of the carriage of FIG. 14;

[0025]FIG. 16 is a partially cross-sectioned view of another embodiment of
a carriage, wherein the act of pulling down on the carriage's housing
will effect a braking action on the rail;

[0026]FIG. 17 is a front elevation view of the carriage shown in FIG. 16;

[0027]FIG. 18 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a carriage in
which a housing can be selectively placed around a structural rail, and
spring-loaded spheres can be used to facilitate sliding movement of the
carriage along the rail;

[0028]FIG. 19 is a cross-sectioned view, in elevation, of the carriage
shown in FIG. 18;

[0029]FIG. 20 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of a
carriage in which a housing has an upwardly turned cusp to receive and
support the handle of a trapeze, such that the handle can be positioned
out of the way when other activities around the bed make the handle
temporarily unwanted; and

[0030]FIG. 21 is a front elevation view of the handle of a trapeze resting
in the cusp-shaped holder on the side of a carriage housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A FIRST EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0031]Referring initially to FIG. 1, a bed and a structural rail of the
prior art are shown, and a clamp is shown at a typical position along the
rail. Such a clamp is held at the spot selected for it, by virtue of
manually tightening a bolt or screw around the rail. If a patient wishes
to move himself with respect to the bed, he must either wiggle his body
or get someone else to position the clamp in an advantageous location--so
that he might benefit from being able to lift himself by pulling
downwardly on a trapeze. Of course, the trapeze 20 is shown with a
generally horizontal orientation, suspended below a rail 22 as it is
typically employed in modern hospitals. Such a rail 22 is octagonal or
circular in cross-section and has first and second ends and extends
longitudinally over a hospital bed--as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,026
to Reed. The length of the rail 22 is not important to this invention,
but there will be a variety of possible positions for a carriage 24 as it
slides along the rail. By using a carriage as shown, there will be no
need for a hospital to discard any existing rails that are in its
inventory. Indeed, there is no need to take apart any existing frame or
support over a bed. The preferred carriage has a housing 26 with a side
opening 28 that is sized and shaped so that the carriage can be slipped
sideways over the rail at essentially any position along the rail.

[0032]To set the environment for the disclosure to follow, FIG. 2 again
shows a structural rail supported over a horizontal surface, e.g., a bed.
A carriage 24 is mounted for sliding movement, in a longitudinal
direction, with respect to the structural rail. Relative movement is
assured by using one or another of the structural configurations shown
herein.

[0033]Turning first to FIG. 3, a first carriage 24 has at least one roller
mounted near the top of the housing 26, with a side opening 28 that is
sized and shaped to permit the housing to slide (sideways) over an
adjacent rail 22. In FIG. 4, a pivotable arm 30 is shown alone, i.e.,
removed from its normal position within the housing. Exposed at the top
of the arm 30 is a brake pad that can be rotated upwardly and brought
into contact with the bottom of the rail 22, when the opposite end of the
arm is pulled down, as it would be when a downwardly directed force is
applied to said arm. FIGS. 5 and 6 show other views of this preferred
embodiment of a carriage.

[0034]FIG. 7 shows a trapeze, which might aptly be called a "medical
trapeze" (to distinguish it from a trapeze that a person might see
acrobats use in a circus), with a handle 34 that can be grasped by a
patient or a nurse or other care-giver. Another device (shown in FIG. 8)
that can be affixed below a carriage is a sling 40 that is shaped and
sized so that it might wrap around--and support--a patient's broken leg
or the like.

[0035]FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 show an alternate embodiment of a carriage,
identified by the reference numeral 124. In this embodiment there is a
device 131 within the housing 126 that provides low-friction contact with
the top of the rail. Such a device 131 replaces the previously described
rollers and may be a thin pad of teflon or Kel-F or other low-friction
material.

[0036]FIGS. 12 and 13 show a variant of a carriage in which a braking
action on the carriage (identified by the reference numeral 224) is
effected by pulling downward on a cable or chain 241) which causes the
brake arm to pivot about its fulcrum. The cable 243 is terminated on its
lower end by device that can be comfortably grasped by a person's hand;
for example, it can be a rubber-like ball 245, about the size of a golf
ball.

[0037]FIGS. 14 and 15 show an embodiment in which a locking device 325 is
mounted on a carriage 324, said device being contacted by an external
knob 327, whose status is readily discernible by a casual inspection.
That is, a nurse can quickly determine by walking into a hospital room
whether a carriage 324 is fixed or not. Thus, if the patient has a knee
problem and his doctor doesn't want the patient to be able to move his
knee, he can issue instructions to a nurse that the carriage 324 be fixed
and left alone.

[0038]FIGS. 16 and 17 show alternate ways of mounting a carriage on a
structural rail, wherein a generally horizontal patient can adjust his
position with respect to a supporting bed--by selectively moving a
carriage with respect to an overhead rail. Once a desired position has
been realized, the carriage can be automatically "fixed" to the rail, and
a nurse or other care-giver never has to be involved in a subsequent
adjustment process.

[0039]In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 14-17, the carriage 324 is adapted
to smoothly slide along a rail 22 as described before, and it is brought
to rest at any selected location out of a universe that includes hundreds
of possible locations along the rail--by manually moving a knob 327
horizontally. Each selected location is perhaps separated from another
location by only a minuscule amount; or a newly selected location may be
quite remote, i.e., completely at the opposite end of the rail. Moving
the knob 327 horizontally causes a pivotal bar 330 (inside the carriage
324) to pivot about a rod 332 that is secured to the rear wall of the
carriage. Access to the knob 327 is easy because it is located on the
outside of carriage 324. In FIG. 16, brake pad 334 is shown as being
pressed against the bottom of the rail 122, thereby securely holding the
carriage 324 in place--where it can serve as a static anchor for a
depending trapeze (omitted in these figures, for simplicity). In FIG. 17,
the pivotal bar 330 is shown in its opposite position, where the brake
pad 334 is moved out of contact with the rail. The bar 330 is caused to
pivot, as indicated, by virtue of an upward force by a plunger 336 and a
compression spring 338, both of which are captured in a slider element
340 that is pinned to the external knob 327. Hence, horizontal movement
of knob 327 causes the slider 340 to move and the carriage will switch
from the configuration of FIG. 16 to that of FIG. 17, and vice versa.

[0040]Also shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 is a latching pin 342 that effectively
captures the rail 22 inside the carriage 324, and thereby prevents the
carriage from falling away from the rail 22 after the two have been
manually engaged by moving the carriage transversely over the adjacent
rail.

[0041]To better explain this feature of the construction, there are
provided two abbreviated sketches, FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B. FIG. 15A shows
the physical structure of the carriage's frame, alongside a segment of
the rail 22, with the frame's open side facing the rail. To mount the
carriage 324 on essentially any part of the elongated rail 22, the frame
is manually moved in a radial direction (with respect to the rail) until
it completely envelops the adjacent segment of the rail. This movement is
in the direction of the arrow 350. After all of the internal parts are in
place inside the frame, and the carriage has been appropriately
positioned over an adjacent segment of the rail 22, a pin or latch 342 is
manually put into place, in much the same way that we routinely latch a
gate after a farm animal has been put into a stall or pen. The latch or
pin 342 is a very simple mechanism, of course, and it is readily
installed without calling on the services of a mechanic and without
requiring use of a special wrench, etc. Indeed, the simplicity of the
carriage 324 and its latch 342 both promotes economy in manufacturing and
fosters easy removal (as may be necessary or wanted) for cleaning, etc.

[0042]FIGS. 18 and 19 show an alternate embodiment in which two
spring-loaded devices in the top of a carriage are provided to facilitate
sliding movement of a carriage with respect to a rail. The spring-loaded
spheres are a substitute for the previously disclosed wheels in the top
of a carriage.

[0043]FIG. 20 shows an alternate embodiment of a housing in which a holder
is provided on one side of the carriage. If the trapeze is hanging down
where it interferes with constructive work being done (adjacent the bed)
by a medical professional, the handle part of the trapeze can simply be
lifted up and placed in the holder. An effective holder is shown as being
cusp-shaped, with its open top facing upwards (like a hook); FIG. 21
shows a trapeze being supported in what may be described as a storage
location.

[0044]While several embodiments have been disclosed herein, there may be
other features that will occur to those skilled in the art. Hence, the
scope of the invention should be measured only by the attached claims.